WoneR did the last remaining deeds, killing (advanced) brigands, neekers, sickle-flies, doing last 15 quests in the Shire, then going to Bree…only to find she was at maximum reputation with Thorins Hall. Bravo, at least saved load of reputation items for next toon. Then, quick ride in Shire and Ered-Luin, depositing piles of copper coins into vault…toon deleted. Wellcome, WoneS, race of Man woman champion.

NaktiesKarys did the quests in Yule festival, finally finished “Such Generosity! deed, got 50 tokens back. I bartered 2 horses from the vendor and now am waiting to finish 120th quest. Only then would I be able to get warsteed things:the ones I went to Yule festival for.

And so the day has ended, I had 3483 Turbine points and with some luck I should be able to reach my goal within a week.

New Year

Well, this year has largely been succesfull. Except the fact I left Dunedain of the North (but that’s too long story) and for some time was kinless…and except the fact I would never finish some deeds just because they are in an unpopular regions (Angmar/Moria). However, I got new friends, went into new adventures and purchased many content.

Largely I was satisfied with the game. What do I expect in the next year? Well, to reach level 95, finish all deeds in Rohan/Wildermore/ Helm’s Deep. Purchase remaining regions (Mirkwood, Great River) and possibly some nice stuff (like more milestone skills) from the store. Get my Weaponsmith to the top of effectivness in HD. And if only could – help all those in need, should they evene mention they need it.

In short – year has been good, another good one is to come and Happy New Year everyone!

Entire days were spent in Lotro – I sat near PC with a printed sheet of paper and my favourite Stabilo88 markers. I had deeds, TPs and my future nicks written. Deed done – marking with X, let’s go to next deed. I have been creating and deleting toons: WoneO, WoneP, WoneQ – all created and deleted. Now it’s WoneR that grinds Turbine points.

I logged into every single existing toon on Silverlode, Dwarrowdelf, Crickhollow and got some 100 TPs from them. Sent all my toons to Frostbluff and every single toon brought me 30 TPs. Not so bad for the begining.

Meanwhile NaktiesKarys was farming Yule festival and after that – farming Sarnur for reputation items. Drop were scarce, had to pick up every Dourhand crest and overflood vault.

Had some talks with the Kin members. Sometimes we argue about tactic. When I asked about Forges ofKhazad Dum, if they were doable solo, one person adviced to try. yet wiki told it was a 6-man instance with bosses of >70,000 health. Solo such monstrocity? Then – about nerfed champions, fellowships in Moria etc.

Tried to try “VIP for 14 days”, but failed: Turbine’s site won’t accept my credit card. Opened support ticket at 25th, still unanswered. Hello, dear Turbine, it’s possible customer talking! However, there’s too little time left even if they activate it tomorrow: Trollshaws and Northlands withing maximum 10 days?

Overall, I felt very busy…and very satisfied. Turbine points were flowing, experience was growing and vaults sometimes were overflooded with rep.items.

And so the days had ended. I have 3413 Turbine points: only 1262 to go for HD and 4 trait set slots. Days were almost superb in Lotro.

New girl was born, WoneP. She started to grind Turbine points, did some slayer deeds (Spider, Spider adv., Brigand slayer, 15 quests in Bree).

NaktiesKarys meanwhile quested in Wildermore. I took every single quest, the only exception – small fellowship quest to kill warband (leader had >100.000 health). Otherwise things were going just good. Every quest was done, every enemy was killed, I helped local people and finally became Kindred with the People of Wildermore (no more need to collect things for Task Board). Some deeds (find wild flowers and some huts) were also finished.

Our Kinship organized a Christmas event: everybody could volunteer and become Secret Santa. I was one too, sent some items by mail, received some valuable ones from another player.

Then, a time has come to start daily quests and build up reputation with the Survivors of Wildermore. These are 5 daily quests, so reputation builds up slowly. However, quests mostly are interesting and contribute towards deeds. I was satisfied with these, even if it would take forever to build that reputation.

Managed to help one kinnie with the Mirkwood adventuring. There were several epic monsters with 50.000 health. Together (she, her soldier and me) managed to defeat all of them. A pity, could not help her further – I did not purchase Mirkwood quest pack. After we were finished – I did epic quest line in storming Enemie’s tower, set monster lvl to 60 and killed everybody there.

Then went to Yule festival. Previous festival coins/deeds are null and void, but all the quests and deeds are the same. Rewards are the same. Titles are the same. Even shop has the same items. Maybe mounts look a slight different. It really disappointed me: why not introduce something new? Why not re-design old stuf or introduce some new? So I went, did all I could, helped the poor, fought the rich, received lots of shabby clothes as rewards. Now my goal is to do 120 quests for Yule, get some gold coins and then – all mounts/caparicons they offer. Doing Yule now is like last year’s chewing gum: you may chew it, if you like, it may even have some taste left…but would you be satisfied? The only good are titles: use 10 tokens, buy a title, get 5 Turbine points.

And so weekend has ended. I felt satisfied, had some 2658 Turbine points (2300 remaining). Life was just good in Lotro.

First of all: Yule festival is there and maybe I will start grinding its tokens to get mounts and mount cosmetics. But not for now.

NaktiesKarys spent his day in Wildermore, travelling from quest hub to quest hub. Nurzum, the evil ice giant, terrorizes the land and it was up to me to help locals to evacuate and witness yet another death of man whose last wish was to his wife – to rise a child she was pregnant with. Yet other women were very cold to her and only after some actions did they allow here to stay. I had to take care of another group of refugees, scout clear path for them and make my revenge on the Orcs.

And then the Trees came. One of them slaughtered a group of Orcs. Then it was my quest to kill Isengard wood-cutters. And finally – I went to Huorns, as old as Middle Earth and witnessed their history. Saw the fall of 2 of them. Saw how evil Giant came, how he swore to serve Saruman and began his way of murdering everything from wooden trolls to Huorns. There were great many quests, some including tricky path-finding.

I felt satisfied with it. Killing Orcs was real pleasure. Advancing to level 88 was very good. Completing some deeds, including reputation ones – just superb.

I was thinking about latest VIP offer from Turbine like “upgrade, then cancell within 14 days and receive premium”. There is but one unclear moment:

1. Should I pay in advance 15$ and after 14 days receive refund? Or

2. Should I just enter my credit card information even if there is 15 US cents (and get no refund since I did not pay anything)?

Otherwise, the day was great in Lotro. It ended with some 2513 Turbine points and I foresee much more TPs ahead. And Yule festival as soon as I finish with Huorn quests…

WoneO was sent to have some rest after grinding. NaktiesKarys went to conquer Wildermore and get some Turbine points as well.

Region greeted me with lots of enemies around (do not even dream about safety), from hidden Sauron spies to ice giants. Quests were running very quickly, from “kill NN orcs” to “bring firewood to the fireplace”. A region that is ravaged by the forces of Sauron, almost every settlement being under attack and lots of tragedies before my eyes. Brave defenders that fight enemy, being slained one after anotherl; farms destroyed, refugees running from the terror of the war, women and children between them, settlements abandoned. There is little hope for these people, but it’s up to heroes (like me…) to save them. Or at least make their life easier.

It is first time that I met ravaging creature, Ice Giant, crushing everything in his path. A terror machine, created by Sauron. I met one un-lucky traveller who was deceived by Sauron himself.

Quests were interesting, ran very quickly and I have completed some deeds as well (explore Forlaw, Orc slayer). Cold could be felt, especially near ice-spikes. There was some session-play, but not too hard and these plays were really interesting.

And so the day has ended, I had some 2463 Turbine points and felt very satisfied. The day has been superb in Lotro.

NaktiesKarys did Hytbold dailies, helped SUtcrofts district – only to find my trophies from Rohan were no longer accepted. A pity, but at the other hand – I had an excellent chance of selling everything. Then, moved at top speed to Harwick, ready to start questing in Wildermore and gain some Turbine points there – as well as valuable xp.

WoneO did her duties with grinding TPs. Most of Bree-land deeds are done, except Neeker-breaker slayer advanced and Ruins of Bree-land. Reputation items with the Men of Bree are used, I am Kindred with this faction. However, I am running very low on reputation items – have sets for some 2 toons to reach Kindred…and then will have to hunt again. WOneO also did her duties with paying bills for house maintenance: 2 upkeep (300 silver) paid, now will just collect some silver and deposit it to shared vault. What remains to be done is Shire and Ered-Luin exploration deeds.

From now, my strategy is clear: use top speed to grind TPs and level up NaktiesKarys. Wildermore should level me up, thanks to quests and give some TP (not easy though, since killing 360 monsters is not too easy). Yes, i would have to use ~20 toons to reach 4300 Turbine points and buy Helm’s deep, but I will make it.

And so the day has ended. I had 2413 TPs (some 2086 to go), 5 Hytbold tokens. The day has been good in Lotro.

Lotro was offline for a long time, so had to play Istaria. Still many un-finished, un-claimed plots, some in Bristugo. However, Istaria’s plot system is just superior, you can almost build your own town there (and if they allowed one paying customer to own, say, 5 plots – we would have real private towns). I asked my Guild members where to get my pet (Loyalty rewards vendor did not want me to give some). It turned out, I had “to be active” and to “rebuild my time in Istaria”. SO – now I have to log, do something reasonable, like run in circles…only to have pet. A pity they want to force players to be active.

Lord of the rings online

Lotro was offline for a long time: I came home at some 19:00 and it wasn’t around 21:40 when Middle-Earth was back to life, so I had some 1,5 hours to play. Did Hytbold dailies, spent all the tokens. Reached level 86! Did not earn any TPs, but received a quest to go to Wildermore: the prove my purchase works. Tried to hunt Half-orcs, but without wiki did not remember where to hunt: all camps I met were Orcish only with only 1-2 Half-orcs around them.

Kinnies are happy with my return (well, Istarians thought I am back…but I wasn’t), I am happy to meet them too. They are all active in Helm’s Deep: a perfect chance for me when I finally grind my remaining 2200 Turbine points. Then I will have somebody to aid me, that’s for sure.

And so short day has ended, I felt a bit tired, but satisfied. Days are good in Lotro.

Yesterday almost all the day was spent in real life. Moving stuff to the new flat (my Grandmother left it to me, we remembered the year of her passing by), cleaning, placing things and taking some bath after all. Internet works, still fighting telephone and TV to work.

And then I noticed there was a sale on quest packs, including Wildermore. That was something I did not want to miss + it costed some 635 instead of regular 795 Turbine points. Since Wildermore is not profitable region – I am just reducing losses…

And so the day has suddenly ended. I had 2273 Turbine points, zero Hytbold tokens and ready to grind every single TP. Life is once again with Lotro, life is once again nice.

My silence in the web is coming to its end. On Sunday I am moving to my new flat. It took almost a year to make it after my taste. It took lots of money, but now it’s done – everything is bright and new.

Istaria

In mmorpg.com they announced pets will be introduced for those who are long enough and some special pets – for subscribers. They also claim pets initially will be social only. Weird. I do not think pets belong to this game, leave them to WoW or Lotro’s Loremaster…

Lord of the rings online

Obviously, had not played, even did not update it. However, Turbine announced what may sound as pay-to-win: Gift of Valar. Pay 5000 Turbine points, raise your toon to level 40 and receive gifts, from 1 gold piece to 25 Mithril coins. Kind of bad idea, too close to some (bad) trends – “pay NNN $ and get lvl.50 toon”. On the other side – player loses lots of Turbine points he could have earned up to level 50.

That ends my post. Tomorrow will be busy – it is a year since my Grandmother died, so no play in Istaria/Lotro.